Wow, what a day!
We boarded the night train from Hanoi at 19:00 last night and were in for a hellish 13 hour journey. There were 4 people to a cabin and once all the bags were in there wasn't much room for anything else! We had two Canadians from Canadia in our room, Jess and Katrina. Luckily they volunteered to take the top bunk so we didn't need to clamber our way up (although Charlotte did have a go and there may be a video of it)
We didn't get much sleep on the train and I watched the sun come up over the paddy fields at 05:00 and saw all the Vietnamese with their ducks and buffalo tending to their fields. It was stunning!
We arrived in Hue around 08:30 this morning and got a taxi to our hotel and went for breakfast. Charlotte had a Jam baguette and I had Pho Tom which is pork noodle soup. This set us up nicely for a tiring day...
We hired bikes and went with Jess, Katrina, Denise (Kiwi) and John (paddy) to see the tomb of Tu Duc who was some king some time ago. It was a 7 km ride to get there and we had fun negotiating the traffic, although thankfully its not quite as busy as Hanoi and the roads are a bit wider. On the way back we saw ladies making incense and pointy hats. Charlotte had a shot of rolling her own incense sticks, she was a natural!!!
We then went to the Imperial Citadel in the centre of Hue which is a big walled palace type complex. It is very old but alot of it was destroyed by the French in the 40s and the Americans in the 60s so it is being carefully restored. We fed some huge koi carp in the citadel and they were slithereing over one another to get the food and going a bit mental. We also saw a couple of Elephants, but they were chained up and looked quite sad.
After that we negotiated our way on bike back to the hotel (Phuoc An - DMZ Hotel) and returned the bikes. We have just had a refreshing shower and will be going out for a bite to eat at Friendly Cafe soon. We are getting a bus at 8am tomorrow to Hoi-An, which will take about 4 hours and then who knows what our day will hold.
Keep us updated with any comments!
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Hey hey! Negotiating the roads by bike huh? Talk about intrepid!
ReplyDeleteI'm heading down to London tomorrow, so will keep you posted, although I won't be able to supply you with stories that are anywhere near as interesting!
Miss you both loads!
Stunning is such a gay word,You find out where you can blow those cows up yet?What makes friendly cafe so friendly?See you staying in these fancy hotels,thought you staying in these youth hostels..anyway keep on trucking!
ReplyDeleteAt last some details on 'Indy's' cohorts!! I thought Charlotte wasn't eating western food, a jam baguette?? We think about you both all the time and the daily updates are better than anything on the TV.
ReplyDeleteHi from the people living ordinary lives! Really enjoying reading about your adventures -can't wait to see photos and that video!
ReplyDeleteHalf time Scotland v Lithuania 0-0.
Andy playing Dusty Brown - 4 -3 to Andy first set.
Missing you!
mum wants me to tell you scotland drew and andy won.
ReplyDeleteGlad to know your enjoying your Holiday, cannot wait to see you guys when you get back!
ReplyDeleteSuperkick!!!!!!I was at Hell for Lycra VII and that match was awesome!
um hello its lucy and steve here...we are trying to figure out how to work this thing haha...i know that my name doesnt say lucy but im on ur lappy chazzy haha. Your trip sounds amazing, but the food looks yucky! the flat is fine. however tony the tranasila and I havent made friends yet, cant wait to see you both love yous lucy xxx
ReplyDeletep.s steve here, your flat is still standing for when you decide to come back. hope your having fun take care speak soon x ;-p